Promax 70 Snack Bar Calorie Bar Review

By Kelly Turner on November 20th, 2009

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One of the biggest frustrations as a personal trainer is seeing female clients downing 250-300 calorie protein bars as snacks, and then wonder why they aren’t losing weight.

Most of the time, these bars are meal replacements, calorie supplements for intense exercisers who need those extra calories, or have the nutritional profile of a Snickers bar. Just because there is a picture of someone flexing on the front, doesn’t mean that it’s entirely healthy–or for everyone who exercises.

Imagine my relief when I received a box of Promax’s 70 calorie snack bars in the mail (one of many perks of writing about fitness for a living.) These are the types of bars most people should be eating. They give you a little blast of energy, 70 calories worth, which means you can actually eat a meal for dinner, to give you five grams of protein 10 grams of carbs and one gram of fiber.

For me, at least, they are perfect. I train from about 5:15 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., and then come home to workout. I don’t want to eat a huge meal right before, but I don’t want to consume a 250 calorie snack either. Instead I just need a little somethin’ somethin’ to give me some extra energy after not having eaten since before work. Then, when I’m done, I make a proper meal. By sticking to this schedule, the quick snack serves its purpose, holds me over, and gives me some nutrients to fuel my workout, without containing the calories of half a meal.

The box I received was advertised as “Cookies and Cream” flavor, but the box lied. Instead, they tasted exactly like cookie dough–I mean exactly–same texture, same everything. Which didn’t bother me as they tasted great. That’s the one thing you have to be careful of, though, they are small, and so good that it’s easy to justify eating two or three. You must resist.

That said, these little guys are exactly what they claim: a high energy snack. An important designation as your daily source of calories and nutrients should be from real, whole foods and meals, whereas these bars are good for a quick one-time pick me up. Which is great as you now have a bar that will do the same as all those other (300 calorie) bars on the market, but without piling on the extra calories. Use them in case of an emergency: toss ‘em in your purse, your gym bag, your car–hell, you can put ‘em in your pocket–and you will never be left looking for a drive thru before you can get home to eat a nutritious and healthy meal.